WE NEED CHANGE ON OUR SCHOOLS, NOT MORE OF THE SAME….

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN — On Oct 11th, Dottie Darsie was giving a report to the Caldwell County School Board members about the CUBE Conference she attended in Baltimore, MA, the previous week.  One seminar she attended was based on the outcomes from the important school reform movie “Waiting for Superman”, she called the seminar and movie “charter school brainwashing.” Ms. Darsie had not seen the movie and asked all of school board members if they had seen it. None of these people who claim to love children and revere education so much had seen this movie. I was terribly surprised. One woman in the front (who works at the education department) said she heard it’s “not any good.”  I have plans to see this movie before it leaves the theaters and want to see what is working for this one school.  I’m open to new ideas especially if they work!  Why is our current school board condescending, uninterested and disengaged in new idea in education that work?

Setting the Bar Lower? — The current school board keeps campaigning on continuing the past excellence in our schools. Who thinks we really have “excellence” throughout our schools?  As an example non-excellence, in an Oct 4th County Commission meeting, Clay Bollinger asked Dr. Stone about how the graduation rate changed from 68 to 75% in one year?  (See 20:20 in the video link below.)  Dr. Stone said that last year they implemented a new program for an alternative graduation requirement in which struggling students were allowed to graduate with as few as 22 credits instead of 29 credits.  The school board has set the bar lower for SOME STUDENTS.  Effectively, this increased graduation rates 7% without anyone lifting a finger.  I had a child in the local school system.  The problem, as I saw it, is that the so-called “guidance” counselors just are are doing any “guidance” towards graduation.  It’s simple math, with 32 possible classes in four-years, a student only gets 3 TOTAL non-academic classes.  Do the math and plan for the future!  Another example, remediation is the norm in Math and English for a students coming out of high school and attending 4-year universities, even for those going to the local community college.  That’s is not “excellence” in our schools! Watch the Oct 4th meeting for yourself. http://www.caldwellcountync.org/wp-content/uploads/commissionoct042010.asx